Airport layover tours

Airport layover tours – birding outside instead of waiting inside

Facing a multi-hour stop-over in one of the world’s busiest airports? Why not kill some time birding!

Join us for an airport layover tour and find out that in the area around Amsterdam Airport Schiphol one can see surprisingly good numbers of birds. Think about thousands of Barnacle Geese with (in some years) a Red-breasted Goose or Lesser White-fronted Goose among them. Imagine looking at Crested Tits and Firecrests in the woodlands instead of looking at the airport terminal. An early start in spring can get you to a dawn chorus of Nightingale, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Bluethroat, Willow Warbler and many more songbirds.

Alternatively, if you want to look for one or more target birds instead of waiting for your next flight, check our bird list and contact us to discuss the possibilities.

Please note you will need a minimum of at least three hours outside the terminal.

3 – 5 hour tourJust outside of airport, in the Amsterdam area, there are some good birding sites for woodland birds, geese, gulls, terns, waders and all kind of other birds. In just a few hours it’s possible to see up to 50-75 species of birds.

5 – 7 hour tour
With a little bit more time available it’s possible to visit more (productive) and larger nature reserves, resulting in the possibility to see more species of birds and bigger numbers. It’s possible to visit the Oostvaardersplassen to see White-tailed Eagle, Bearded Tit, Savi’s Warbler, Spoonbill, Bluethroat and more. Depending on the time of year it can be possible to see 75-100 species of birds or to look for more targets birds.

We have had many satisfied customers who had just a few hours available between flights and we have regularly shown them well over 70 species of birds, some mammals and a view of the Dutch countryside!